Mineralogical characterization of an Acre soil in order to produce calcined clay aggregates for pavements

ABSTRACT This paper presents the experimental results of the evaluation of the mineralogical features of a soil from the Southwest of the Brazilian Amazon used to produce calcined aggregates for road pavements. The identification of clay minerals by X-Ray Diffraction technique is more efficient when preceded by preliminary sample treatments involving sedimentation, iron removal and preparation of microscope slides under glycol-saturated and heated conditions. The results show that the soil presents mineralogical features suitable for the production of calcined aggregates with acceptable mechanical behavior for the proposed use; they also show that the preliminary classification involving physical indexes are not always sufficient to verify the suitability of the soils.